Variety in the Classroom: a series?

Often when teachers talk about this, what they mean is how we provide variety for students. What I want to talk about is the variety of students who walk in our rooms, particularly as ESOL teachers. Further, when I say variety, I want to focus in on the variety of skill levels, languages, and education levels in the room. For ESOL teachers, I think this is a unique concern (in comparison to other language teachers) because students are often put into an ESOL class based on their ability with a test in English, but it often isn't the best/only indicator of where they should be. Being completely honest, I don't have a fix for that problem and I don't think there is a simple fix. What I want to consider is how we, as the teacher in the room, handle those students and all they bring to the classroom. What I propose is a short series of posts focusing on one aspect of the variety of students we might receive in our classrooms. Each post will discuss what I experienced in my own room and provide some reflection on the things I tried, what worked, and what didn't. This is a series that could simply rely on the initial list below, but it could very easily expand with combinations and ideas that I hadn't thought of initially. So, take this intro with a grain of salt and comment below if there is something you'd like me to address in this series.

Proposed Posts

• Students who are "under grade-level".
• Students who come without records and are placed in levels below their ability. 
• Singleton speakers in the classroom (e.g. 20 students speak French, 1 student speaks Vietnamese).
• The "catch all" Level 1 class.
• Students who acquire English quickly.
• Students who acquire English slower than expected.
• A classroom with a wide variety of students.